Anthony Mackie Joins Affleck And Timberlake In Runner Runner

By now, if you've been going to the movies even somewhat regularly in the last few years, you surely know who Anthony Mackie is. Without ever quite making the step up to leading man, he's appeared in supporting roles in a lot of fascinating films, from The Hurt Locker to the underrated The Adjustment Bureau to the ridiculous Real Steel to Notorious, in which he captivatingly played Tupac Shakur. And though he's been up for some bigger roles, he's continuing his supporting trend this year, popping up in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Gangster Squad and eventually Michael Bay's comedy effort, Pain & Gain.

And you can go ahead and count on that trend continuing for another few years too. Deadline reports that Mackie has signed on to the thriller Runner Runner, about the world of offshore gambling and a couple of college kids who get caught up in it. Ben Affleck is already set to play the gambling maven, with Justin Timberlake and now Project X's Oliver Cooper as the college students who get involved. Mackie's role isn't specified.

The cast coming on board for Runner Runner is clearly great, but I'm almost more interested to see how it's handled by Brad Furman, who took The Lincoln Lawyer from what could have been a dull lawyer drama and turned it into something surprisingly engrossing and fun. Most importantly, he got Matthew McConaughey to give one of his best performances in years, and it seems entirely impossible he could do the same for everyone on board Runner Runner as well.